DLP and Katter fight for Australian-made

Reforms in food manufacturing and grocery competition policies should be focused more on transparency of origin to help local producers than on simply securing cheap shelf prices for consumers, the DLP’s sole senator,
John Madigan
, says.

Senator Madigan, who might hold sway in the Senate if he teams with any representatives from Katter’s Australian Party and South Australian independent
Nick Xenophon
, said the issue was not about cheap food.

“It’s a matter of food security. It’s a matter of the national interest. It’s not a simple debate," Senator Madigan told The Australian Financial Review.

MP
Bob Katter
of Queensland said last week that a limit on the shelf space given to private-label brands could help more branded products made locally remain economically viable.

The Australian National Retailers Association, which represents the big supermarkets, maintains that private-label brands help local producers.

“The vast majority of private-label goods are made by Australian companies, employing Australian workers, and attempts to cap the availability of these products is a direct attack on budget shoppers," ANRA chief executive
Margy Osmond
said. Senator Madigan said on Tuesday: “The broad terms of what [Mr Katter] says I think everyone agrees with. I know where he is going and I don’t disagree with it. But the devil’s in the detail.

“It’s not as simple as how much shelf space we reserve, because the way our farmers and food processors are going out the door, they’re not going to need too much space."

pushing for changes to labelling laws

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The DLP senator will push for changes to labelling laws as the first priority, to make clearer to shoppers how much of the product, rather than just the packaging or the assembly, is made in Australia from Australian products. “Most businesses don’t want handouts, they just don’t want to be screwed all the time," Senator Madigan said.

Mr Katter’s KAP is pushing a similar policy.

“One of the biggest problems that our farmers and our food processors have is the labelling laws," Senator Madigan said.

“It’s extremely confusing. To say it’s Australian made . . . you don’t know how much of the contents that you’re buying is actually Australian."

On Monday the federal Labor government promised $10 million to help US-owned Simplot keep its Tasmanian food manufacturing plant viable, with the Tasmanian Labor government expected to front up an extra $5 million.

The company, which manufactures under the long-standing Birdseye and Edgell brands at plants in Bathurst, NSW, and Devonport, Tasmania, said in May it might have to close those operations because it was struggling to compete against cheaper branded and private-label imports.

Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd
, who was campaigning in Tasmania on Tuesday, wants the $10 million federal contribution to Simplot to “increase the effectiveness" of farm business planning, on-farm productivity and reduce long-term business costs.

The $15 million total, including $5 million from the state government, will be in addition to an $18 million grant the government promised the company to help it proceed with a $75 million upgrade to its processing facilities.

The Labor pledge comes days after
Tony Abbott
said he would give $16 million to assist the Cadbury plant upgrade in Tasmania. The planned upgrade will cost parent company Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods) $66 million. Mr Abbott said the contribution was necessary because of specific economic circumstances surrounding the particular plant, and is being promised despite Mondelez posting a 2012-13 revenue increase for its Australian companies to $2.02 billion.

The Cadbury chocolate factory is in independent MP
Andrew Wilkie
’s seat of Denison. Simplot’s plant is in the electorate of Braddon, held by Labor’s
Sid Sidebottom
since 2007.